Front Office Developer

Role Overview

We are seeking a Java Developer with strong Front Office Foreign Exchange (FX) technology experience to join a major strategic modernisation programme. The programme is focused on migrating a large-scale, business-critical FX trading platform from a legacy C++ architecture to a modern Java-based platform.

The successful candidate will work closely with traders, quants, business analysts, architects, and other engineering teams to redesign, re-engineer, and deliver high-performance, low-latency trading applications that support the FX business across pricing, execution, risk, and trade capture.

This is a hands-on role requiring both deep technical capability and strong Front Office domain knowledge. The individual must be comfortable operating in a fast-paced trading environment and able to bridge legacy systems and modern engineering practices.

Key Responsibilities

Core Delivery Responsibilities

• Participate in the design and implementation of the strategic migration from C++ to Java.
• Analyse existing C++ trading and pricing applications and help define the target Java architecture.
• Re-engineer legacy components into scalable, maintainable, and testable Java services.
• Develop high-performance Front Office FX applications with a focus on low latency, throughput, resiliency, and stability.
• Work across the full software development lifecycle including requirements gathering, design, coding, testing, deployment, and production support.
• Deliver new Java components while ensuring compatibility and integration with existing C++ systems during the transition period.
• Contribute to the phased decommissioning of legacy platforms.

Required Skills and Experience

Technical Skills

• Strong commercial experience developing enterprise applications in Java.
• Proven experience with modern Java versions (Java 11/17+).
• Strong understanding of concurrent programming, multithreading, collections, and memory management.
• Experience building low-latency and high-throughput systems.
• Experience with the following technologies:
• Spring Boot / Spring Framework
• Messaging technologies such as Kafka, Solace, Tibco, JMS, or MQ
• RESTful APIs and service-oriented architectures
• Microservices and event-driven architectures
• Maven or Gradle
• Git and modern CI/CD pipelines
• Linux / Unix environments
• SQL and relational databases
• In-memory caching technologies
• Strong debugging, profiling, and performance optimisation skills.
• Experience with automated testing frameworks including JUnit and integration testing.
• Familiarity with containerisation and cloud technologies is desirable.

Front Office FX Domain Experience

• Strong knowledge of Front Office trading environments within investment banking or capital markets.
• Demonstrable experience working on FX trading systems.
• Good understanding of:
• FX products and lifecycle
• Market data flows
• Pricing and execution workflows
• Trade booking and downstream processing
• Risk, P&L, and exposure calculations
• Experience interacting directly with traders and Front Office stakeholders.
• Understanding of electronic trading, venue connectivity, and low-latency market access is highly desirable.

Preferred / Desirable Experience

• Experience within a large-scale strategic transformation or modernisation programme.
• Experience in a global bank or major financial institution.
• Familiarity with pricing engines and quantitative libraries.
• Experience with distributed caching and high-performance messaging.
• Knowledge of Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud-native deployment models.
• Familiarity with DevOps and SRE practices.
• Exposure to Agile delivery methodologies including Scrum or Kanban.
• Experience mentoring junior developers and leading technical workstreams.